read with lena

happy world book day to all my book lovers out there! although i wasn't able to spend the day in a local bookstore today, i thought i would share the books that made me a reader. (disclaimer: i don't have the best memory so most of these are from my middle school years, but rest assured that i was also a little reader in elementary school!) -1- TUCK EVERLASTING was our read-aloud book in 6th grade and i fell in love with it. maybe it was the way my teacher read it to us, or maybe i was just entranced by the story, but i never forgot about Winnie Foster's adventures with the Tucks that fateful summer. -2- STARGIRL. i remember writing one of my first books reports on this book. i admired Stargirl's uniqueness and individuality and the fact that she didn't care about what other people thought about her. as someone who struggled (and is still struggling) with self-confidence, this book showed me the importance of dancing to the beat of my own...

another year has come and gone and with it is a list of books i finished reading within that year. 2019 was a big year for me...i did a lot of travel--both for work and for fun--but one of my biggest accomplishments was finishing my master's degree! if you're in school you know that reading for pleasure isn't really at the top of the list, hence my (embarrassingly) short list of books that i finished within the last year. i'm setting my sights higher for 2020, though, so let's hope this list is much longer next year! Strengths Based Leadership - Tom Rath i actually had to read this book for my strategic planning class, but ended up really enjoying it! we also took the strengthsfinder assessment, which this book discusses in depth. i would recommend it if you're into personality assessments and such. (any INFJ's out there? :)) The Rest of the Story - Sarah Dessen it is no secret that i'm a huge sarah dessen fan--i own pretty much her en...

goodreads book breakdown: Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story. Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us. The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true? okay. OKAY. first off, if you haven't read EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING yet, i highly recommend it. granted these two stories aren't connected, but i feel like first books are first bo...

goodreads book breakdown: Theodore Finch  is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him. Violet Markey  lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.   When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink. get your tissues ready for this one, you're going to need them. i had first picked up ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES m...